Harmonized global maps of above and belowground biomass carbon density in the year 2010

This dataset comprises the derived, vegetation-specific component layers used to create the temporally consistent, harmonized global maps of above and belowground biomass carbon density and associated uncertainty of Spawn et al. (2020). The density estimates of each layer represent the contribution of the respective vegetation type to a given grid cell’s total biomass carbon density. As such, the total above and belowground biomass carbon density layers of Spawn et al. (2020) can be produced by taking the pixelwise sum of the respective tree, grass, crop, and tundra layers. Likewise, the Spawn et al. (2020) uncertainty layer can be produced by taking the root sum of the squared vegetation-specific uncertainty layers. All layers represent conditions in the year 2010. The total C maps of Spawn et al. (2020) can be accessed at the following from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center for Biogeochemical Dynamics (https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1763). These maps are a synthesis of numerous, previously published vegetation-specific aboveground biomass density maps. In some cases, we updated the representative date (e.g. grassland herbs) or extended the extent (e.g. tundra vegetation) of these prior products to align with our goal of creating temporally consistent global map. For vegetation-specific studies, we encourage potential users to first consider whether it may be more appropriate to use the original aboveground biomass input layers upon which our harmonized estimates are based: Forest Biomass in 2010 (Global) – Santoro et al. 2018 (https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.894711); Savannas and Woodlands in 2010 (Africa) – Bouvet et al. 2018 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.12.030); Tundra vegetation in 2010 (North Slope of Alaska) – Berner et al. 2018 (https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1565); Grasslands herbs between 1982 and 2006 (Global) – Xia et al. 2018 (https://doi.org/10.3390/rs6031783). All layers have been scaled by 10 to reduce file size and should by multiplied by 0.1 before analysis to attain units of megagrams C per hectare (MgC/ha).